Bear Much Fruit: Patience
“May you be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might,for all endurance and patience with joy.” -Colossians 1:11
Strength and patience walk hand in hand. This is why Paul prayed for the church in Collosae to be strengthened with all power in order to be patient. Patience requires great inner strength.
Take a minute to read through this definition of patience: “The capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset—calmly enduring pain and trying situations.”
I don’t know about you, but ...
Wrestling Well
I first started walking with Jesus as a young child, and my faith has been and still is the most important part of my life. I know this all sounds so “nice,” and it certainly is, but it’s fair and even helpful to share that walking with Jesus hasn’t always been easy for me. In fact, walking with Jesus has been very difficult through the years. I’ve wrestled and doubted, as I would imagine many of you have too. I’ve noticed there seems to be a temptation to wrestle secretly because we feel ashamed––we worry others will think we’re losing our faith or ...
Brandy’s Story
Where do I begin to tell the story of our daughter whose life would come to change our world in so many ways?
In December of 2019, after a difficult few months filled with sickness and the loss of my precious Mommy, I caught the flu. Our oldest son had recently been hospitalized for the same thing, and I had fallen ill caring for him. On Christmas Eve, a friend persuaded me to take a pregnancy test because I was still very sick.
I was in shock when the test was positive. My first thoughts were, “Lord, what are you thinking? Here I am barely ...
Bear Much Fruit: Peace
“You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast because he trusts in you.”
– Isa. 26:3
There is no more heartbeat for my little girl.
But peace
Sobbing while on the phone with my mom from a hospital bed.
But peace
A hand in mine, belonging to a crying father.
But peace
A wearied doctor with no answers.
But peace
Silence from the newly-birthed lips that resemble mine.
But peace
Watching the nurse walk my daughter's tender body from the hospital room and out of my earthly life.
But peace
F...
Book Review: Walking with God through Pain and Suffering
Throughout many years of pastoral ministry, Timothy Keller and his wife Kathy, walked alongside countless individuals in the midst of suffering, and faced great suffering of their own. Through these experiences they came to realize that “the heart of why people disbelieve and believe in God, of why people decline and grown in character, of how God becomes less real and more real to us — is suffering.” (6)
Suffering is inevitable. No amount of planning and preparation can completely guard you from facing suffering in this life. In John ...
In the Word: A Promise Fulfilled
Welcome to Hope Mommies’ In the Word devotionals. It is our desire that this series will aid you in getting in the Bible for yourself and discovering the joy that comes from hearing from God through the pages of His Word.
“to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us” – Ephesians 3:20
READ:
We have the Holy Spirit within us, enabling us to return to the “real world” after loss with the peace that He is with us and that we truly are with Him here on earth for ...
Bear Much Fruit: Joy
When I started thinking about joy, the movie "Inside Out" came to mind. In this animated film, Joy is a main character and one of five emotions inside the mind of a young girl. The other emotions are Fear, Anger, Disgust, and Sadness. Joy always strives to remain joyful, hence her name, and is the leader of the young girl's emotions.
Have you ever thought about which emotion is leading your life? We have all of these emotions competing for control. Joy and sorrow will even walk hand in hand at times, but only one will lead. It's imperative that ...
Yet I Will Praise You: Hannah
History bears witness to the many men and women who have gone before us in choosing to praise God in spite of the great suffering they endured. We can learn much from their testimonies of faithfulness and perseverance in the midst of grief and pain. In this series, we share about the trials others have endured, and of their commitment to praise God from the valley.
As mothers, we have a vision for our children's future. It involves happiness and prosperity, all in close proximity to ourselves. We want to control their destiny. We want a guarantee that no ...
Sara’s Story
April 5 was like any other Easter Sunday. My husband, Jeremy, was drumming, and I was helping lead worship. We arrived early and had two successful services. During the middle of the third service I helped out in the nursery, as it was over-packed with babies, and talked about the precious wee-one growing inside of me. Then, before heading back on stage at the end of service I went to the bathroom and saw it: blood.
I immediately started to freak out as I hadn’t spotted once during the previous ten weeks. I called my doctors office and they were less than ...
The Everlasting Light
In the wake of our losses my husband and I found ourselves in profound darkness.
Our precious son, B, was stillborn on June 30, 2018, at 22 weeks. I wandered lost for a year as we tried to understand and navigate a grief we had never felt before, which was compounded by two early term losses, one in November 2018 and another in February 2019. In December 2019, we again said hello and goodbye. This time to B’s brother, Robert, who was also born at 22 weeks and with us for one precious hour.
The grief wasn’t new anymore, it was like a knife in an ...
